Rollers resistance

Hi,

I’ve just gone from a kickr to using some Tacx Antares rollers. It didnt take long for me to get using them after watching a video on how to start riding them. Well I find them great for high cadence work or staying in zone 1/2. I find that im spinning at 110 RPM for stay in zone 3.

Is there a way to give the rollers more resistance?

What was your reason to change from a kickr to rollers? I hope this wasn’t a replacement as they are extremely different devices. a Kickr, or any smart trainer, will provide you multiple resistance options. Rollers are general to work balance, smoothness and pedal technique with zero resistance. While you can find rollers with magnetic resistance and or types of fans…they are nothing like a smart trainer.

A Kickr and rollers are best together, not a replacement. The majority of your workouts on the Kickr and some of the lower power level workouts on the rollers. Baxter, Petit, bald Knob, Taku…all favorites for me on rollers).

I love my rollers, dearly…but they are not a resistance trainer.

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Not a ton of options with plastic drums.

  1. You can run lower tire pressure is about the best option.
  2. Some people place a towel under the drum for more resistance, but I don’t love that option, especially for plastic.

Rollers DO offer resistance. My ‘dumb’ Kreitler rollers absolutely will offer resistance up to my thresholds, albeit with cadence and gearing as necessary. My ‘smart’ Elite rollers absolutely offer magnetic resistance based on ERG commands from TrainerRoad.

Rollers don’t allow for easy ‘sprint’ efforts because it is difficult to spin them up super quick and keep balanced – but for steady state work from FTP and below, they indeed have resistance. Rollers are not for every type of workout — but can you achieve gains with them? Yes.

For some workouts, I use rollers. For others, I use a proper direct-drive trainer. Different tools for different jobs.

Rollers can offer resistance, but often too not (by design). I do most of the training on a Feedback Sports Omnium over-drive (mag resistance) and it works for me and my needs (the rest is on a set of Tacx Antares rollers). While technically the omnium are rollers, it’s a trainer to me (i.e. rollers, in the classic sense have three drums and not a fixed from wheel).

But, the point is… more often than not “rollers” are selected because they offer no resistence but do offer balance, smoothness and cadence training. Not to mention warmups and the like.

The point I was making (which we do agree on) is a smart/dumb trainer and rollers are not the same thing and are totally apples to oranges.

Ok so the main reason I’m on rollers is because my new bike only has thru axle. Since I got a good deal on a new flux 2 that supports thru axle out the box I sold my kickr 1 to finance the order. So whilst I wait for my flux to arrive I have only rollers and outdoors to do workouts on. When my flux arrives I’ll use the rollers for base mile riders

If you have a Flux 2 coming, then no issues.

Enjoy the time on the rollers, working on cadence/balance/smoothness. Don’t worry about the power numbers (because you won’t hit them). Focus on what rollers do well, until the Flux 2 shows up.

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Find the highest rolling resistance tyres you can find and run them at a low pressure too.

Towel or something else to create a bit of drag, bear in mind it will heat eventually.

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